AanspraakAfdeling Verzetsdeelnemers en Oorlogsgetroffenen December 2019
Speaker at the ‘Auschwitz Never Again’ Lecture 2020 Federal President of Germany (2012-2017) Joachim Gauck makes a plea for tolerance Contents
Page 4 Speaking for your benefit.
Page 5-8 Speaker at the ‘Auschwitz Never Again’ Lecture 2020. Federal President of Germany (2012-2017) Joachim Gauck makes a plea for tolerance. Photo’s Joachim Gauck by J. Denzel-S.Kugler.
Page 9-12 ‘That fateful moment changed the course of my life forever.’ Civilian war victim Margriet Cellissen-Huskens still suffers daily the consequences of being hit by shrapnel during the liberation.
Page 13-16 ‘The sun was setting and we walked out of our street with our suitcases in our hands.’ Sonia Melviez-Hildesheim was a child when she and her parents fled from Brussels to the Dutch East Indies.
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 2 Page 17 Reduction to percentage on income from assets.
Page 18 Questions and answers.
No rights may be derived from this text. Translation: SVB, Amstelveen.
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 3 Speaking for your benefit
In the Netherlands we are now celebrating 75 Moreover, how do we guarantee freedom and years of freedom, along with many other countries. tolerance towards minorities in a democracy? This Determined not to have to go through such a is the subject of our discussion in this edition with terrible war again, we came together to draw up a the former Federal President of Germany, Joachim Universal Declaration of Human Rights and found the Gauck. As a former citizen of East Germany, he knows United Nations. Noble intentions and higher goals. what it is like to live without freedom. His father was In the Peace Palace in The Hague, international law arrested by the Russian secret police and impris- would surely reign supreme. oned in the Gulag. He was a pastor and a politician before rising to the position of Federal President of For the sake of humanity, we should be able Germany, which he held from 2012 to 2017, alongside to intervene to prevent wars. But the real world Chancellor Angela Merkel. In 2012, in Breda in the is complex and unpredictable. We can land a Netherlands, he was the first German dignitary to give research buggy on Mars, but we are no nearer to the National Liberation Speech at the invitation of achieving our ancient desire for peace on earth. Queen Beatrix. For him, this was a particular honour. Not to mention the many new forms of struggle that we face today, against fake news, drones and In this edition of Aanspraak, Joachim Gauck makes a Big Brother with Big Data that can track, analyse a plea for tolerance. In the New Year, he will be and predict our every move. The British writer the guest speaker for the ‘Auschwitz Never Again’ George Orwell foresaw all of this in his novel Lecture, which is organised each year by the Dutch “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, which was published in Auschwitz Committee, the NIOD and the Sociale 1949. Today, keeping watchful and critical is a Verzekeringsbank. This lecture comes just a few days more difficult task than ever. before International Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, the day that Auschwitz was liberated by Is democracy as a form of government gaining the Russian army. At the end of the interview, you ground over dictatorship around the globe? can read how you can register for his lecture on It would seem it still has a long way to go. We are 22 January 2020 in the Royal Tropical Institute living in a troubled world and in times of upheaval, in Amsterdam. we often see the rise of conservatism and a hunker- ing for strong leadership. Is it possible for us I wish you all a peaceful and prosperous 2020. to take a stance against this as individuals? Will we be able to safeguard peace and security in Europe and beyond? What should or shouldn’t be tolerated? How can a democracy best safeguard the freedom Ruud van Es and rights of its citizens? Sociale Verzekeringsbank
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 4 ‘Freedom has to be fought for over and over again’ Federal President of Germany (2012-2017) Joachim Gauck makes a plea for tolerance.
The former Evangelical-Lutheran pastor Joachim the acceptance of differences of opinion in our Gauck (1940) rose to prominence in East Germany European democracies. As a former East German as an anti-communist civil rights activist. During the citizen, he knows what it is to live in a totalitarian ‘Peaceful Revolution’ in the GDR in 1989, Gauck state. Gauck shows us what freedom and tolerance was co-founder of the civil opposition movement really mean and stresses how important it is to Neues Forum, which played a part in the fall of the fight against those who are intolerant or who try Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands. to undermine our democratic rights and values.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification Why do you think it is so important to start a of Germany in 1990, Joachim Gauck was elected by debate about tolerance? And why is tolerance the Volkskammer (East German parliament) to rep- ‘simply difficult’? resent the Alliance 90/Green Party in the German Democracy creates a space in which pluralism and Federal parliament, the Bundestag. A day later, difference are accepted, but in doing so, it also he was elected as the first federal representative grants rights to those whose ideas, ideologies or specifically charged with overseeing and investigat- religions are perceived by large parts of society as ing the Stasi archives, a task he fulfilled from 1990 alienating or even wrong. This is often extremely to 2000. It was in this position that he acquired his difficult for people to accept. By developing reputation as a ‘Stasi hunter‘ and ‘tireless advocate tolerance, you show that you are free to make your of democracy’, exposing the crimes of the East own decisions. You don’t always have to run away German secret police. from awkward situations or act aggressively in defence; you’re not doomed to regard anyone who From 2012 to 2017, he was the Federal President is not on your side or who doesn’t share your opinion of Germany. On the occasion of his 70th birth- as the enemy. You can learn to put up with and even day, Chancellor Angela Merkel described him as a get on with ‘otherness’. Tolerance stops people “true teacher of democracy” and an “advocate for immediately forming camps, shutting themselves off freedom, democracy and the rule of law.” In his from other groups and acting hostile towards them. book ‘Freedom: A Plea’, published in 2012, Gauck calls for the defence of freedom and human rights In 1951, your father was sentenced by the Soviet around the world. regime to a Gulag in Siberia. Were you and your family in contact with him during his imprisonment? Speaker at the ‘Auschwitz My father was one of a group of innocent people Never Again’ Lecture 2020 arrested, tried in secret by a Soviet Russian military tribunal, handed two sentences of twenty-five years’ On January 22 2020, Joachim Gauck will give the hard labour and deported to Siberia. The families of ‘Auschwitz Never Again’ Lecture. The following victims who had been ‘picked up’ under the Stalinist interview came after the publication of his book terror were not told what had happened to them. ‘Toleranz – einfach schwer’ (Tolerance – Simply For two and a half years we had no idea whether my Difficult) (2019), in which he argues for more tol- father was dead or alive, or where he could possibly erance to allow for the growth of freedom and be. It wasn’t until after Stalin died that my mother
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 5 was informed by word of mouth that he had been civil society, especially in the Western part. The convicted by the Soviets and was still alive. country is a maze of active networks run by men and women on a voluntary basis. It was important After his return in 1955, did your father ever talk for me as Federal President to strengthen people’s to you about his time as a Russian prisoner? self-confidence and remind Germany of its duty to My father was never secretive about what had assume its international responsibilities wherever happened to him. He had written poems about his possible. imprisonment which he recited to us after he came back. He did not keep silent about the injustice he There is a significant gap opening up between had suffered. conservative forces that want society to stay as it is now and progressive forces advocating In what ways did your father’s experience affect globalization and innovation. How can our your choices in life? politicians bridge the gap between these different Because of what happened to my father, my brother lifestyles and beliefs? and my sisters and I became politically aware at an This phenomenon has been the subject of much unusually early age. State socialism manifested itself observation and discussion in the West and the early on as organised injustice. As a result, our family United States in recent years. My own viewpoint can sided with those who distanced themselves from the be found in my book, ‘Toleranz - einfach schwer’ regime. We refused to join the state organisations (Tolerance – Simply Difficult). If we are to have a that were set up for children and young people. future as an open society that accepts differences, And as adults, we naturally avoided joining the state we will have to embrace a broader definition of ruling party. It was the kind of attitude that was not tolerance instead of constantly characterising conducive to a career in the GDR. political, cultural and religious pluralism as a danger. This doesn’t mean that we have to accept every How did you experience the transition from difference; there are some attitudes and doctrines the GDR to a unified Germany? that should definitely be challenged. But this kind I was already somewhat familiar with the West. I had of battle can still be fought within the framework often been there before the construction of the Wall of tolerance - with combative tolerance. Only when in 1961. Later, it was possible to establish at least a the other acts out of hate, or breaks the law or spiritual connection via Western radio and television. disrespects people, does it become legitimate to But many of my East German countrymen imagined deploy the weapon of intolerance. life in freedom as being completely carefree. They had not prepared themselves mentally for the fact Even in the most prosperous and exemplary that the rapid reunification they were demanding democracies in Europe, parties on the right of would bankrupt many state-run companies and put the political spectrum have grown in influence over them out of a job. The initial sense of euphoria was the last ten years. Why do you think this is? soon replaced by reality and disappointment. Considering the success of these parties in exemplary democracies such as in Switzerland, the After fifty years of living in East Germany, you Netherlands and Scandinavia, it is clear that social capped your political career by becoming President problems are not the cause. In fact, the trend is of a united Germany. What was it that you valued mostly due to cultural factors. Recent scientific most in that role? research in Europe has shown that around 33 per The best thing for me was being president of a cent of the population (44 per cent in the United peaceful and truly democratic country, where the States) are conservative by nature. These are people rule of law was guaranteed. The country was now who are sceptical about change, who value security fundamentally different from the Germany my above freedom, who appreciate strong leadership father and grandfathers had known, and from the and who are critical of the technology-driven world dictatorship that I had lived under for five decades. of today. To them, the modern world appears What I valued most was having such a lively, pluralist threatening. This attitude is not necessarily harmful
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 6 or bad. It can result in a positive commitment to total control of the population, is a great cause for preserving values - but it can also lead to ideas concern and shows where this process can lead. that are negative and reactionary to the point of being anti-democratic. Populists exploit the fear The ‘Auschwitz Never Again’ Lecture will be this section of the population has of losing their held shortly before 27 January, the date on which own culture in order to gain political influence. They Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army. What would not be so successful if the more progressive do you personally think about on that day? parts of society could reassure the rest that progress, Together, we remember the crimes, the guilt, globalisation and modernisation does not mean they and the fact that people have avoided being held will lose the country they were born in and where accountable. This is not only because we like to stay their roots lie, or their national and cultural heritage. connected to the past, we are not after all addicted to the past, but because by looking at lives that have How can you conduct a dialogue with deeply been misguided, we can see how important it is for conservative people who are not used to listening us to defend the dignity and the rights of all people, to different opinions and who do not want to be now and in the future. part of a modern society? There will always be differences of opinion in an In 2012, you were the first German Federal open democratic society. Short-sighted individuals President to be invited by Queen Beatrix to deliver or groups are not limited to any one political party. the speech to mark Liberation Day in the Nether- On the other hand, you will also find people who are lands. What are your memories of that occasion? susceptible to argument in every section of society. It was a generous and wonderful invitation that I Supporters of any kind of dogma, left or right, received from Queen Beatrix; a gift to me and to tend to despise debate and the discussion culture Germany, to this Germany. I was given such a warm generally. They prefer to issue decrees instead. The welcome. As a friend to freedom, I was allowed to Enlightenment taught us that people are rational celebrate a liberation party with those who had been beings, open to reasonable argument. That is why liberated – what a wonderful day for Europe! And we must persist in seeking out people who are willing absolutely unforgettable: the warmth and friendship to talk and take part in debate. Freedom has to be with which I was received, even by people who had fought for over and over again. However, if the other survived the concentration camps. side is acting out of pure intolerance, even the most tolerant person will have to respond with intolerance. You have argued that refugees should be Tolerant people defend their own beliefs, and met with compassion, but you have also said, they take the fight seriously, but they do so in the ‘Our heart is big but our possibilities are finite.’ knowledge that, as a last resort, their own sense of What do you mean here by ‘finite’? intolerance has a role to play in defending democracy. This is something that needs to be negotiated openly in every society. We all understand that As commissioner of the Stasi archives from 1990 Europe cannot be the final destination for all the to 2000, you know how far the East German police poor and persecuted people of the world. But went in exercising state control. Although modern compassionate people will always want to help. technology is necessary to protect our freedom, Our societies are made up of people who are it could also be used to create a ‘thought police’. helpful, people who are overly afraid and people Where is the boundary here? who take a harsher view. We can only form humane People who disregard human dignity and autonomy policies if that is what the majority of people in the and human rights will do anything to safeguard country want. It is clear that we have not yet reached their own power. For despots and dictators, new the end of our capabilities in Europe. But it also clear technologies offer unprecedented opportunities. The that we must discuss and take firm decisions on the way things are going in China, where the aim is the nature and extent of migration and its influx.
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 7 What gives you hope for the future of Europe as far Ticket reservations as migration, tolerance and the universal legitimacy ‘Auschwitz Never Again’ Lecture 2020 of human rights are concerned? I am certainly worried about the way things are A limited number of tickets are still available for going at present. On the other hand, during my the ‘Auschwitz Never Again’ Lecture, to be delivered life I have seen very powerful dictatorships crumble in German by theologian, politician and former and fall. We have to believe that the ‘better world’ Federal President of Germany, Joachim Gauck, on we seek can actually be achieved. The history of Wednesday 22 January 2020 at the Royal Tropical democracy has shown that it is possible for us to get Institute in Amsterdam. close to truths, to find compromises and make visible progress – thanks to tolerance. However, every Subject to availability, you can sign up to attend the democratic person who wants to protect this field lecture via www.aanmelder.nl/nmalezing2020 until of possibility and who is fully prepared to stand up 15 January 2020. for tolerance, must also be prepared to take a stand against intolerance whenever freedom and tolerance The organising institutions are keen to raise are at risk or in danger of being destroyed. Being awareness of the ‘Auschwitz Never Again’ Lecture tolerant and defending tolerance go hand in hand. among young people. You are therefore welcome We want to defend what is good, in the certainty to include the names of your children or grand- that it is worthwhile to defend what everyone has an children when you sign up. equal right to: human dignity, physical and mental integrity, freedom and justice. It will always be worth The lecture will start at 3 p.m. and finish at 4.30 p.m., fighting for these rights, with a sense of responsibility followed by an opportunity to meet and talk until and courage – and with combative tolerance. 6 p.m. The auditorium will open at 2.30 p.m.
Interview: Ellen Lock Photo’s Joachim Gauck by J. Denzel-S.Kugler.
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 8 That fateful moment changed the course of my life forever Civilian war victim Margriet Cellissen-Huskens still suffers daily the consequences of being hit by shrapnel during the liberation.
When the US Army advanced into South Limburg to Our house was situated in the middle of the front liberate the Dutch province from German occupa- line. All of the residents were advised to remain in tion, a heavy battle ensued, with the liberation forc- the shelters. My father laid wooden planks on the es coming to a standstill in the village of Susteren. salt bins that were used to cure the meat, so that Margriet Cellissen-Huskens, who was a child at the we could sit or sleep on them in the cramped cellar. time, recalls how she crawled out of the shelter When the air-raid siren sounded, we would run down shortly after hearing the air-raid siren and was seri- to the cellar. Only when the air-raid siren sounded ously injured by shrapnel. She still lives with the the all-clear would we re-emerge to go to the toilet physical and mental consequences on a daily basis. or get something to eat. The Allies and the Germans threw hand grenades back and forth. Our house was situated in the middle of the front line The grenade explosion in our yard My parents owned a butcher’s shop and slaughter- When, on 30 September 1944, the air-raid siren house at Wijnstraat 3 in Susteren, a village situated sounded the all clear, my sisters and I crawled out of between Roermond and Sittard. The seventh the shelter to go to the toilet. At that very moment, daughter in a Roman Catholic family, I was born a grenade went through the roof of the house right here on 24 July 1937 as Margriet Huskens, followed across the street, causing a loud explosion that sent by a younger brother, Jan, five years later. My shards of glass flying all around us. I was showered brother Jos, who is ten years my junior, was born with shards of glass from the slaughterhouse after the war. Annie, my next-oldest sister, was window. Everyone heard me screaming as the mentally disabled, so all the attention was always blood spurted out of my left leg. I quickly made focused on her. my way inside, leaving a large trail of blood behind me. Initially, my parents thought I’d been hit by a My parents continued working throughout the war, shard of glass, but they quickly realised one of the and the animals would be slaughtered in a room arteries in my left leg had been severed. I also had behind the shop. The room had a large window that a wound on my shoulder. My father and mother looked out onto a yard where I would often play tried to ligate my leg using tea towels, but to almost with my sisters. In this yard was a sty, where the pigs no avail. My father held me – his seven-year-old would be fattened. The sty also housed our toilet. daughter – in his arms, and his clothes were red with Young men would use the sty as a hiding place blood. At that moment, the village doctors were during the razzias, and not a single one of them was also in their shelters. My father heard that there ever caught. was a doctor called Favery, a black man, who lived on Raadhuisstraat. Favery was the only doctor who When the American, Canadian and British liberators continued to work despite the heavy shelling, risking advanced from Belgium in September 1944, his life in the process. Father took me in his arms and they came to a standstill in Susteren. There is a carried me to Dr Favery’s practice, where the doctor creek running through our village, known as De discovered that a piece of shrapnel had penetrated Vloedgraaf, behind which lay the occupied area. the bone in my leg. Using a small pair of scissors,
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 9 he tried in vain to pull the shrapnel out of the bone. necessary. You were discharged from hospital on He did this without anaesthetic, which caused me to 26 November 1944 and underwent an operation on scream out in pain. Father wasn’t allowed to take me your left collarbone on 30 June 1945.’ to the hospital in Sittard, because our village was still occupied, whereas Sittard had been liberated. He The doctors feared for my life couldn’t take me to Roermond, either, because there During the first operation, the doctors tried to save was no transport. my knee. Unfortunately, I lost too much blood and I started getting worse. On 14 October 1944, my left On top of the salt bins in the shelter leg was amputated far above the knee. My eldest My parents took me down into the shelter, where sister, Els, recently told me that my father cried they laid me down on the wooden planks on top when he was informed of this by the doctor. Due of the salt bins. Because of the high risk of more to blood poisoning, I ended up with lumps all over air raids, all of us hid, slept and kept watch over my arm, which swelled up and burst, leaving many me in the shelter. My father hung a sign reading scars. When I woke from the anaesthetic, a nurse ‘Diphtheria’ on the door, because the Germans took a hand mirror and showed me how I looked. were fearful of contagious diseases. My high fever It was a terrible shock seeing myself with my bald meant I would often fall unconscious. On top of that, head; that made me cry more than my amputated I also suffered blood poisoning and erysipelas. My leg. As a seven-year-old child, I didn’t yet realise how parents were desperate, so they sent my sisters to serious my condition was. While the doctors were speak with a couple of German soldiers in our street operating on me, the residents of Susteren had to to ask them if they could take me to Sint Laurentius be evacuated. My parents and siblings walked to hospital in Roermond. They said they would only do Sint Odiliënberg, where they were taken in by a kind it in exchange for drink and petrol. It took a week family. However, my mother wanted to return to me for my parents to be able to meet their demands. immediately, but she couldn’t leave until the next Fortunately, I had an aunt who owned a bar and morning, with a horse and cart carrying a coffin. Due an uncle who owned a garage, so as soon as the to the heavy blood loss I had suffered during the coast was clear, my parents obtained the goods the operation, I was dying. There were no donors with soldiers had requested. the right blood group, and the doctors feared for my life. When my mother arrived, she was able to give Admission to hospital in Roermond blood for me straight away. Fortunately, I responded On 8 October 1944, I was taken to the Sint well, so, in this way, my mother saved my life. My Laurentius hospital in Roermond, where my left leg mother comforted me by telling me I could grow my was amputated above the knee and the wound in hair. I hadn’t been allowed before, because there my shoulder was stitched. Prior to the operation, were too many of us girls at home for her to plait all my head was shaved for hygiene purposes. For our hair. Op 26 November 1944, I was discharged the purpose of being classed as a victim of war, I from hospital and taken to our evacuation address in requested the surgery report from the Sint Laurentius a pram by my sister Els. hospital in Roermond. The letter I received from the hospital director, dated 4 October 1982, read as On foot through the snow follows: ‘Clinical data on patients is destroyed after Using a closed umbrella for support, my father tried 25 years. However, the surgery reports have been to teach me to stand on one leg. He also did some kept. You were admitted to our hospital as a child on emergency slaughtering, because many animals 8 October 1944. Upon your arrival, the circulation to had been injured during the shellfire. This would your left lower leg was extremely poor. The fragment involve him putting down cows or horses on site. was removed from the back of the knee the day you He would often be rewarded with some meat for us. were admitted. It was discovered that an expanded My sister Toos would knock on people’s doors to artery in the knee had torn almost completely. ask for bread for us. Thanks to her efforts, we never Initially, the artery was sutured. However, on went hungry. One day, the Germans ordered us to 14 October 1944 amputation above the knee proved leave for Friesland. Their army trucks were ready
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 10 and waiting to transport us there, but this made surprise, we weren’t arrested and we were suddenly my father suspicious and he set about finding us free! We were given shelter in a school, where they somewhere to stay. Just as I was being put in the gave us soup and white bread. They deloused us, German army truck with my pram, my father came which was long overdue, as we were covered from running towards us with the news that we were head to toe. My father was supposed to go to my able to stay with family. The Germans lifted us out mother’s family in Broeksittard ahead of us, but he of the truck just in time and drove away. However, only got as far as the market in Sittard; due to pure he hadn’t found anywhere for us to stay at all, so exhaustion, he couldn’t remember how to get there. we found ourselves standing in the snow and icy- According to one of my aunts, I just sat and stared cold wind. My parents wanted to go to my mother’s for a very long time, without speaking. As soon as family in the liberated village of Broeksittard. I was it was possible, my father went to our house. It had being pushed along in a pram, which broke, so my had suffered nine direct hits, and on the kitchen floor father then laid me in a wheelbarrow, with my only lay an unexploded grenade. Photos of ruins from foot dragging in the snow. At dusk, we arrived in that time speak volumes. After the war, the 1940- Roermond, only to discover that the bridge over 1945 Foundation arranged for me to convalesce with the Roer River had been blown up. The only way other injured civilians in holiday resorts owned by the you could cross the river was by walking across foundation Het Vierde Prinsenkind. There, I forged narrow planks while holding onto a single strand of lifelong friendships with other individuals who had rope at your side that was stretched taut. My father been disabled during the war, with whom I’m still in decided to risk making the crossing with me in the contact to this day. wheelbarrow. My sister Mia was limping and almost fell into the water, but was grabbed just in time. That Whenever the siren is tested, it takes me back night, we slept in a stable. It was difficult to find a to that time place for such a large family to sleep, because there What I remember most of all is the moment I was were large groups of evacuees staying everywhere. hit by the shrapnel. That fateful moment changed Every day, we walked further south. the course of my life forever. Every month, when the siren is tested, it takes me back to that time. Either War is terrible for friend and foe alike way, I’m confronted on a daily basis with the fact As we travelled, we heard constant explosions, and a that I only have one leg. I’ve had numerous doctors grenade blew up on the ground just a few feet away and artificial legs, and have broken my hips many from us. Fortunately, no one was injured, but there times. At the time, prosthetics were poor, and I was a lot of smoke and we could see a large hole always crossed my fingers that no one would notice. in the ground. As the evening was approaching, we It goes without saying that walking on one leg is very found a farm, where we slept in the cowshed. We difficult, and you can fall easily because you lose were given sheets and lay in the hay. Suddenly, we your balance. I desperately wanted to skate, dance heard loud screams from outside, where a German and go out, and did try all of those things. It was military truck had been hit by a grenade. Some very difficult to find a partner, because even if a boy of the soldiers had been killed instantly, whereas didn’t have an issue with it himself, his parents would others were seriously wounded. A number of them view it as a problem. That was a difficult time. I was ran to the farm, where our sheets were torn into lucky enough to meet my husband, Jo Cellissen, strips to bandage their wounds. I’ll never forget with whom I had two beautiful children and many that bloodbath. I can still hear those boys shouting, grandchildren. I tried to train as a hairdresser, but ‘Scheisse, alles Scheisse!’ War is terrible for friend that didn’t work out because I was unable to stand and foe alike. for long periods of time. However, I did complete my courses at business school and the fashion Photos of ruins from that time speak volumes academy, and I still like to dress well – with the The following day, we arrived in Sittard. To our right shoes, of course.
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 11 My battle started at the end of the war My battle started at the end of the war. I received A kind seamstress I worked for would tell me, a great deal of support from my family and ‘There’s more to life than the war and your civilian war victims who were friends of mine, and disability! Focus on the good things in life and on without my husband I could not have lived here people.’ Unfortunately, I didn’t always manage that. independently. We care for each other and have My mother would always say, ‘a lot of suffering a good life together. In 2004, I was invited by the is borne under people’s clothes!’ Everyone has Foundation for Civilian War Victims (Stichting some unusual feature or other, or an illness Burger-Oorlogsgetroffenen) to lay a wreath at Dam they’re ashamed of, but those things can usually Square at the National Memorial Service on 4 May be covered by clothing. I no longer feel ashamed on behalf of all civilian war victims. That was a really about my disability. Koos Alberts [popular Dutch special moment for me – being able to attend the singer] once said, ‘The wheelchair is my enemy, service and commemorate our people. but when I’m sitting in it, it’s my friend.’ I have the same relationship with my prosthetic leg. Interview: Ellen Lock
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 12 ‘The sun was setting and we walked out of our street with our suitcases in our hands.’ Sonia Melviez-Hildesheim was a child when she and her parents fled from Brussels to the Dutch East Indies.
Dutch-Jewish born Sonia Melviez-Hildesheim tells On the run us the story of how she and her family left Brussels After the Germans invaded the Netherlands and in May 1940 to flee from the Nazis. After a long Belgium in May 1940, a neighbour warned my father: journey, which saw the family travel through France, “What are you waiting for? Run as soon as you Spain and Portugal, they arrived in the Dutch East can!” We took what little silver we had with us. Indies in early November 1941. Just one month It was difficult to convince my grandmother Saar later, the war with Japan broke out, and her family that we had to flee. She was a widow, but she was ended up being in the war after all. This time there physically fit enough to travel. The sun was setting was no escaping: all the family members were and we walked out of our street to go to the station interned in a Japanese camp. with our suitcases in our hands. I took my favourite celluloid doll with me and I was devastated that I had Dutchies in the heart of Brussels to leave my friends Poppeke and Angèle behind. My Dutch-Jewish father, Izaak Hildesheim, was a We took the train to De Panne at sea where my textile agent in Brussels. My mother, Mietje Aptroot, parents bought a beach cart which they used to pull worked as a secretary and came from Leek near my brother to France. Thousands and thousands of Groningen. They were full cousins and both their people were fleeing the Nazis on foot by crossing families were dead set against the marriage. After the border between France and Belgium by way of having been engaged for 7 years, they eventually got the beach. My father had barely any money, so he married. Because they had very little money, they decided to catch the train straight to his cousin in moved in with my grandparents Gustave and Saar Paris. From the train, we saw the flashes of light from Hildesheim district of Brussels, who owned a four- the German bomb attacks on Dunkirk. His cousin storey house on Kemmelberglaan in the Brussels found us a place to stay in Montmartre, where we district of Sint-Gillis. My parents were allowed to live lived for a couple of months. I remember the many on the ground floor and that is where I was born stairs well. My father went to the Dutch Embassy on 24 June 1933. As soon as I was born, my health straight away to ask for help, and they sent us to hung by a thread, because my stomach had grown Montauban in the south of France because the shut. Just in the nick of time, a surgeon was able to Germans were advancing on Paris. operate on me and save my life. That is probably why my mother always spoiled me rotten. As a ‘Isn’t it time to leave again?’ young child, I liked to draw. After the war, I took In Montauban, my parents did not get a work permit piano lessons and wanted to be a dancer. I spoke because they were aliens, but my mother worked Dutch with my mother and French with my father. in a café anyway to be able to pay the rent for our My brother, Max, was born three years later, in 1936. lodging. Every evening, she would take her tips out Before the war broke out, my parents had wanted to of her apron and count them on the table. My father emigrate to Palestine, but unfortunately they did not earned some money by pouring wine into bottles have the money to do so. in the café’s basement. They made fun of me at
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 13 primary school because of my Belgian accent, but I remained friends until she died in 2016. Because quickly became the best pupil in my class. Travelling of the threat of war with Japan, we had to leave became second nature for us children. Little Max Buitenzorg and our family was given a small house always asked: ‘Isn’t it time to leave again?’ The in Bandung. My father was not allowed to work as authorities made us leave after one year, because long as his papers were not in order, but sold textiles my father wanted to sell Belgian ties, but that was to Chinese shops anyway. To earn some money, not allowed as a refugee. We travelled to Portugal grandmother Saar and my mother sewed terry cloth via Spain. In the Portuguese seaside town of Praia sanitary towels. Our room was full of them and they das Maçãs, Jewish refugees were put up in a number sold like hot cakes. One month after we arrived, of hotel rooms. We stayed there for three months. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the Netherlands The refugee committee gave me a beautiful big doll declared war on Japan. My father was called up by as a present, which I still have. I felt guilty towards the Royal Netherlands Indies Army (KNIL) and it so my small celluloid doll. The refugee organisation happened that the army leaders were looking for recommended that we leave Europe, but my father someone who could translate international radio no longer had any money, so he turned to the Dutch messages. During the Japanese bombings, we hid consulate in Lisbon for help. On 13 October 1941, under the table and bit down on a piece or rubber. the consulate gave us a boat ticket to travel to the Dutch East Indies. To Camp Tjihapit After the capitulation of the Royal Netherlands On the boat to Java Indies Army on 8 March 1942, my father was called On board the freight and passenger ship ‘Quanza’, up to report to the men’s camp in Baros. Initially, we and many other passengers, including some 100 we were allowed to take him food and clothing. Jewish refugees, sailed to Java via South Africa. My We received his pre-printed Japanese postcards mother gave me coloured mosaic paper to pass the saying that everything was supposedly okay. In time. I had diligently made a piece of art, but when I the neighbourhood Tjihapit in Bandung, Ms Jos showed it to her, the sea wind blew all the pieces of Weinberg, a Jewish psychologist, took in my mother paper away and I was very sad. An old Jewish lady and her family. My mother was extremely grateful died on board the ship. She was given a seaman’s for having one bedroom in her villa at Oranjeplein. grave: she was thrown overboard into the sea. This Soon after we arrived there, more women moved made a great impression on me. I practised with my in with her, which meant that we had no privacy. mother how to say: “My condolences for your loss”, The neighbourhood was closed off using gedek – a but at the ceremony I made a mistake and said to bamboo fence – creating Camp Tjihapit. I had a the persons in mourning: “I congratulate you on your kidney inflammation and was seriously ill. A camp loss”. I was gutted that I had said the wrong words. doctor attended to me very well. Suddenly I had a We sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and craving for smoked meat and my mother was able to stayed in Durban for a few days. On a park bench we get some for me so that I could regain my strength. read: ‘Mag nie hier sit nie!’, No sitting! We played at a playground, but black children were not allowed to These are things you never forget do that. Apartheid shocked my parents and they did One day, we had to hand over all our toys and not want to stay there. In early November 1941, we bicycles. We deliberately broke everything and sailed into Tandjong Priok, the port of Batavia. threw it on a pile so that the Japanese could not use anything. Every evening, after forced chores, We clicked immediately all mothers tried to cheer us up by playing games, The monkeys and the heat were new to me. We singing and dancing. I even won a drawing contest. had to go to the refugee reception centre in We also celebrated birthdays and Christmas. The Buitenzorg first, where my parents were subjected Japanese took a roll call twice a day to check the to severe questioning, for fear that they might be headcount. If you did not bow deeply enough for collaborators. The Barug family took us in. I had an the Japanese, they hit you hard. One lady fell from immediate click with their daughter Nelly Barug. We exhaustion and was kicked hard. These are things
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 14 you never forget. The mothers collected snails that the hunger pangs in my stomach, I would tighten my were rich in protein and put them in the bathtub belt as much as I could. I saw violent rows break out with the intention of cooking them, but the bath among the women about the sharing of rice. When was empty the next day and walls were covered with the forced labour was done for the day, the mothers snails. Then, one day, we were no longer allowed to did their utmost to distract the children. Education cook on gas. The women sneakily cut some openings was forbidden, but lessons were secretly given. We in the rubber hose so that they could still use gas for had paper and I even won a drawing contest. We cooking. I too had to stand on the lookout to warn dreamed of seeing my father again, but we did not them when a guard was approaching. I was reading know whether he was still alive. a book close to the kitchen when all of a sudden I saw a shadow appear over my book. As agreed, A sign of life I called out ‘Kukeleku’, warning the women who When I was twelve, I was forced to work in the camp were cooking just in the nick of time. We got a soup hospital and I was proud of that. I saw many sick kitchen, which served starch porridge for breakfast, people there, but what had the greatest impact on watery vegetable soup for lunch and a small bowl of me was when I saw a lady at the latrines carrying rice for dinner every day. a collapsed girl over her shoulder, with the girl’s dangling legs dragging through the open sewer. The horrible long train trip In April 1945, the Jewish men in my father’s camp, Ms Weinberg swore at a guard and as punishment Baros, received a censored postcard from their was transferred to Camp Ambarawa in Central Java. wives. A fellow camp inmate read the text out My mother was adamant about accompanying Ms loud. ‘I live here with Ms Lobleu.’ Suddenly, he Weinberg and volunteered us to go with her, because deciphered the name: Ms L’ Eau Bleu, this had to Ms Weinberg had always been good to us. All Jewish be: ‘blue water’ or the town ‘Banjoe Biroe’, where women were going to be transferred to another camp their wives were being held prisoners. That camp in Tjimahi several weeks after we left. When it came was at the mountain lake situated 5 kilometres south time to say goodbye to my Jewish friend Nelly Barug, of Ambarawa. My father did not get a postcard and we both cried. She gave me a book as a present and for one week he thought that we were dead. Much had embroidered ‘Tjimahi’ on the dust jacket. Shortly to his delight, he received a sign of life from us when after that, the Heihos, Javanese assistant soldiers of our postcard reached him two months after it had the Japanese army, forced us to leave the camp. We been posted from Ambarawa. When a US aircraft were put in overfull lorries. We were not given any dropped pamphlets over Ambarawa, all women and food or drink during the two-day trip to Ambarawa. children hugged each other. The pamphlets read: ‘Keep your faith! Liberation is near!’ For days I barely Ambarawa 6 internment camp dared to go to the toilet because I was afraid I would The women’s camp Ambarawa 6 was situated at a miss the liberation, but liberation did not come for lake in the mountains in Central Java. We walked another 6 months. there in the heat from the station. I was exhausted and threw myself on a mattress under a tree. Looking towards the future Ambarawa 6 was guarded by Heihos. Hundreds of One day, three white men came into our camp and women and children lay in big barracks. Each person told us that we were free. At the roll-call point, the was given a planks bed which was 50 centimetres camp leader told us that the Japanese emperor had wide. My grandmother and I had to share one. The decided to end the war. The camp leader had also four of us slept under one mosquito net. There was instructed his guards to protect us against attacks a Japanese camp commander who, although we from freedom fighters. That day, my mother and seldom saw him, ordered us to perform strange I walked to a small pasar where we ate a grilled forced labour tasks. I, for example, was ordered to corn on the cob. We saw how freedom fighters set move large stones from his garden path, only to be Chinese grocery shops on fire and quickly returned told to put them back in the exact same spot. My to camp. At camp Ambarawa 6, my mother received mother and grandmother were razor thin. To not feel a long letter from the Red Cross. It said that my
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 15 father was still alive, but it also contained the names been robbed clean and the people living it refused of all her family members who had been killed by the to leave. After a year of legal proceedings, we had Nazis in Auschwitz. She was devastated and spent the whole house to ourselves again. My friends a whole day in bed. When she got up, she said to Poppeke and Angèle had been killed by the Nazis, us: “We cannot change what has happened. We will as had almost all our European family. A feeling of look towards the future and not towards the past. My extreme loss. I found it hard to adjust to French- family members who have been killed would have speaking Brussels, because I had been raised in wanted us to make the best of our lives, and that is Dutch in the Jap camp. French was spoken at the what we are going to do from now on.” grammar school in Brussels. A teacher who taught classical languages was considerate and helped me The camp guards and the Ghurkas protected with my French. After I finished grammar school, I us against Indonesian violence. The Ghurkas went to study at the academy of arts. transported us first in their lorries to the port in Bandung. After a few days, we found my father I have now been happily married for 62 years to working for an intelligence service in camp Baros. my husband, Maurice Melviez, who had to go He translated the English BBC news into Dutch and into hiding as child. We have built up a beautiful stuck it on a notice board. He was surprised and family: we have 2 sons, 4 grandchildren and 3 great- shouted: “Nondedju!”(nom de Dieu), jumped out of grandchildren. While I still think about my past in the an open window and embraced us. Indonesian camp, the loss of my family in Europe has left a greater scar on me. During my captivity A feeling of extreme loss in the Jap camp, I was lucky to be with my mother, We were so happy that all five of us had survived. grandmother and younger brother at all times, We boarded a Dakota, flew to Batavia and sailed which gave me strength and faith. At my daughter- on board ‘De Sloterdijk’ to the Netherlands. In the in-law’s request, I agreed to do an interview for the Suez Canal at Attaka, I was given an ugly pink winter Shoah Foundation. I think it is important to pass on coat. I was ashamed to be seen in it. My mother our stories, in memory of those who are no longer wanted to go to Palestine, but my father’s old textile among us. connection is Brussels offered him work. When we got to Brussels, it turned out that our house had Interview: Ellen Lock
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 16 Reduction to percentage on income from assets
In our assessment of income-related benefits If you do not report a change to the V&O under the WUV, Wubo and AOR schemes, income Department on time, you may be overpaid, and from assets is taken into account. We deduct a we will require repayment or recover the amount percentage of this income as income from assets. overpaid by deductions from your benefit. The percentage used is based on tax rules for calculating return on assets. For assessments with You can also request a new assessment yourself. effect from 1 January 2020, this percentage will We will then calculate your entitlement on the basis be 1.8 (previously 1.94). of your current income and the new percentage for income on assets. If the new calculation is more We will use the new rate in any new assessment favourable, your entitlement will be adjusted. of your benefit.
A new benefit assessment is made if there is a major change in your personal circumstances. Therefore, you should always report any of the following changes to the Department for Members of the Resistance and Victims of War (V&O) as soon as possible: • you or your partner starts living in a care home; • you start living alone because you have been divorced or separated, stopped living together, or because your spouse or partner has died; • you are getting married or moving in with a partner; • you or your partner starts receiving a new source of income, or stops receiving a source of income.
Aanspraak - December 2019 - 17 Questions and answers
I have to fill in my tax return at the beginning Some years ago, I was awarded the cost of a pair of next year. I am receiving an increment under of orthopaedic shoes but I forgot to send in the Article 19 and allowances for home help and bill. Can I still submit it? participation in social activities. Will I receive Yes, you can, but only if you claim the expense an annual statement of these payments? within five years of the date of the decision by the No, we will only send an annual statement of pay- Department for Members of the Resistance and ments which are subject to income tax. The increment Victims of War of the Sociale Verzekeringsbank under Article 19 is tax-free. Reimbursements and (SVB) awarding the allowance. If you send in the allowances such as for home help and participation bill more than five years after the decision awarding in social activities are also tax-free and do not count the allowance, it will not be reimbursed. as taxable income. Therefore, you will not receive an annual statement of these payments. I have received a letter stating that I am entitled to compensation from the Netherlands Railway I am receiving a pension from the pension Company (NS). Will this affect my Wuv benefit? fund for the metalworking industry. Can I get The NS compensation will not affect your Wuv a benefit increase from you if my pension is benefit. It will be disregarded in our calculations. reduced next year? This means that you are not required to notify A benefit under the Wuv, Wubo or AOR scheme us when you start receiving this compensation. or a pension under the Extraordinary Pensions Act may be increased if your occupational pension is PAYMENT DATES FOR 2020 reduced. In order to get such an increase, you need Below is a list of the dates on which our payment to send us a letter requesting us to reassess your orders will be sent to the banks. The dates for entitlement on the grounds of a reduction to your extraordinary pensions paid via the Stichting pension. You will have to state your new income 1940-1945 (1940-1945 Foundation) differ from the for the reassessment. Therefore, do not send your dates shown below. The dates that payments are request for a reassessment until the month when received in bank accounts outside the Netherlands your pension is reduced and you can state the exact will also depend on the working days of the local new amount. It is best not to wait too long either banks concerned. before requesting a reassessment, because the adjustment will take effect from the month in which 15 January 14 May 15 September you submit your request. An increase in benefit or 13 February 15 June 15 October extraordinary pension does not only depend on your 16 March 15 July 16 November occupational pension but also on any other income 15 April 13 August 15 December you have. It is possible, therefore, that your payment will not increase but stay the same.
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